Generational Workforce: Move to Agile or Lose Top Talent

Mike Stuedemann, PMP, CSP

Certified Scrum Professional & Agile Transformation

Coach

@StuedeSpeaks

Mike StuedemannPMP, CSP

• 16+ years Information Technology - traditional SDLC and Scrum/Agile

• Actively training and coaching organizations adopting and transformation with Agile

• Based in Andover, MN

After the webinar…

• We will send directions to collect the PDU you will earn

from attending this webinar

• We will also send a links to the recorded webinar and

presentation slides once they are posted online

For more information, visit www.cprime.com

Why Agile?

Any Agile Adoption should start out by

asking, “Why do we want to use Agile”?

Being “Agile” is not the Goal!

Agile is about delivering Business Value

2013 VersionOne State of Agile Survey

The Future of Work

Five Trends Shaping the World of Work:

•Behaviors shaped by social media entering the enterprise

•New collaborative technologies

•A shift to “the cloud”

•Millennials soon becoming the majority workforce

•Mobility and “connecting to work”

Jacob Morgan: “The Future of Work” and “The Collaborative

Organization”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobmorgan/2013/06/20/five-trends-shaping-the-future-of-work/

The Future of Work

•By 2020 Millennials are projected to be about half of

the U.S. workforce

•Millennials are used to sharing with each other

•Communicating through social platforms

•Having a voice and learning about what interests

them

•Today’s organizations struggle to adapt to the

changing workforce as baby boomers start to make

their way out – they must adapt to attract and retain

top talent

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobmorgan/2013/06/20/five-trends-shaping-the-future-of-work/

The Future of Work

• The ability to anticipate talent needs, optimize a talented workforce, and keep retention rates high – despite constant change – is the key to a company’s competitive advantage

• According to PricewaterhouseCoopers 11th

Annual Global CEO Survey, access to talent remains a major issue

• Less than half of all CEOs agreed that their HR teams were equipped to handle the change required to compete for talent

http://www.pwc.com/en_US/us/people-management/assets/pwc_oracle_talent_management.pdf

The Future of Work“The reality is that we employ a generation that values more than just straight compensation. They put stock in

stock (options, that is), work-life balance, culture, commitment to charitable causes, and being able to play at the office. Culturally, this is not our father’s workforce.”

• Global online marketing agency in Los Angeles, where the majority of staff is classified Millennials

• Relocating the office meant it had to be in relatively close proximity to the old, or they would quit

• It had to be light, bright and youthful, or they would seek new jobs

• It had to incorporate elements of play, such as room for the pool table, Xbox, and plentiful snacks, or they would go elsewhere

http://upstart.bizjournals.com/resources/executive-forum/2012/09/17/office-space-to-keep-millennials-happy.html?page=all/

Case Study: Netflix

• Creating a culture of freedom & responsibility where values are considered the behaviors and skills that are valued in fellow employees

• Netflix actively promotes and hires people who demonstrate these 9 values:

– Judgment

– Communication

– Impact

– Curiosity

– Innovation

– Courage

– Passion

– Honesty

– Selflessness

Case Study: Netflix

• Adequate performance gets a generous severance

package

• People are not measured by how many hours they are

in the office

• We care about accomplishing great work

• The rare responsible person is self-motivating, self

improving and is accountable

• We have a culture of Creativity and Self-Discipline,

Freedom and Responsibility

http://www.slideshare.net/reed2001/culture-1798664

Agility is the Future of Work

Agile Software Development Manifesto

We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it.

Through this work we have come to value

Individuals and interactions over processes and toolsWorking software over comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration over contract negotiationResponding to change over following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

http://agilemanifesto.org

12

Agility is the Future of Work

1 Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.

2 Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.

3 Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.

4 Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.

5 Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.

6 The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.

7 Working software is the primary measure of progress.

8 Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.

9 Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.

10 Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential.

11 The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.

12 At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

http://agilemanifesto.org/

Copyright 2014 Aequitas Consulting Ltd 13

Agile Approaches

“Agile”

• Scrum• XP• Feature Driven

Development• Lean Software

Development• Kanban

Agile Organizations

• The Scrum Alliance “Transforming the World of Work

• The Agile Alliance “We support those who explore and

apply Agile principles and practices to make the software

industry productive, humane and sustainable”

http://www.scrumalliance.org

http://www.agilealliance.org/

The Team Approach

• Self-organizing

• Members accountable to self and to team

• Deliver working product increments

• Collaborating, communicating, working together

in a “rugby like approach” to deliver business

value

• Often co-located but comfortable with

technology to bridge gaps

• 100% Dedicated

• “I or Me will never outperform We”

Copyright 2014 Aequitas Consulting Ltd 16

New Roles

Copyright 2014 Aequitas Consulting Ltd 17

New Vocabulary & Practices

• Release Planning, Sprint Planning, Iteration

Planning and Daily Scrum or Daily Stand Up

• User Stories, Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog

• Paired Programming, Swarming, Test Driven

Development, Behavioral Driven Development

• Spike

• Grooming and Refinement

• Review and Retrospective

• Continuous Integration

Copyright 2014 Aequitas Consulting Ltd 18

New Leadership Characteristics

• Inclusive, Collaborative

• Flexible, Adaptive

• Possibly-Oriented

• Facilitative

• Self-reflective

• Courageous

• Observant

Adapted from Leadership Agility, Bill Joiner & Stephen Josephs and Action Inquiry, William Torbert

Potential Obstacles

Potential Obstacles

Potential Obstacles

Personnel Considerations

• Focus is on Cross Functional Teams

• Delivery is Value Based on the Customer

• What support or training do our teams need to make the paradigm shift in collaboratively working in a cross functional way?

• What happens to our individual incentives in asking people to work in teams?

• What happens to our hiring practices in asking for cross functional behavior and skills?

• What about career path considerations?

Potential Obstacles

2013 VersionOne State of Agile Survey

Potential Solutions

Identify Leadership Champions

• Without leadership support, culture change is very

difficult and loses momentum

• Identify an Agile Enablement Team or an Agile

Adoption Team to help bring about initial change

and sustain changes

• This Team can use the very process to manage this

effort by leveraging a Backlog, communicating Daily,

working in incremental iterations, etc.

Potential Solutions

Identify Leadership Champions

• This Team can lead by example in adhering to the

Values and Principles

• This group should have representation from all

levels of management as well as any Human

Resources, Operations, Infrastructure, etc. so that

impacts to the organization as a whole can be

evaluated as Pilot Teams begin working in a

different way or before a new way of work is

agreed to start

Potential Solutions

Start with Pilot Teams

• Pilots will yield information about where

organizational impediments are that may need

attention at the Team level, Department level,

with Infrastructure, with Policies, etc.

• Enable the Pilots to best yield data by following

the framework (i.e. dedicate the Team)

• Based on the Organization’s culture and ability

to change, additional teams can be rolled out

incrementally

Potential Solutions

Invest in Training & Coaching

• Ensuring that everyone understands the Values

and Principles will level set expectations for

new cultural norms

• Training can provide information on “what”

Agile methods are and the mechanics of these

• Coaching provides “how” to implement these

methods in specific environments, guide

through common pitfalls and help to sustain

changes that are being agreed upon

How Long Does this Take?

It Depends…

• Size of the Organization

• Organization Culture

• Flexibility and

Adaptability

• Commitment of

Organization Leadership

Want to Learn More?

Agile for Human Resource Professionals Online Workshop

April 17th from 9:00am to 1:00pm Pacific

https://www.cprime.com/training/onsite/agile-for-human-resources//

• What is Agile and where did it start? Review for understanding on the Agile values and principles

• What is meant by self-organization and cross-functionality

• Agile roles and responsibilities

• Motivating Agile Teams

• Changes needed to hiring practices including what characteristics and skills are needed

• Organizational impacts: compensation and career path

© 2013, cPrime Inc. All Rights Reserved

Questions